Pipe sling



NOV. 11, 1 952 PRIDY 2,617,677-

PIPE SLING Original Filed Oct. 18, 1948 .FIG.1.

M/{-TSWNE 3. pe/o fl 4 INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 11, 1952 .A'JUNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Whetstine BuckPridy, Long Beach, Calif.

Original application October 18, 1948, Serial No. 55,099. Divided andthis application July 31, 1951, SerialNo. 239,546,

, 1 Claim. (Cl. 294-74) This invention relates to a hoisting device andpertains particularly to pipe slings.

It is common practice to handle lengths of heavy pipe such as are usedin deep wells by means of a sling which connects opposite ends of a pipewith the hoisting cable by which the pipe is carried from'place toplace. These slings include a ring, which is placed over the hook at thelower end of the hoisting cable, and strands of cable the upper ends ofwhich connect to said ring and the lower ends'of which have hooks whichhook into opposite ends of the pipe to be lifted. As the pipes varyconsiderably in length it is necessary to have slings with cable strandsof different lengths to accommodate the sling to various lenghs of pipe.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pipe sling whichmay be readily manipulated to vary the length of the cable strandsconnecting the sling to the pipe ends whereby this sling may be readilyaccommodated to any length of pipe within the variety of these whichmust be handled ordinarily in a pipe storage yard.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of Fig. 1 indicating the manner inwhich the pipe supporting strands of cable are adjusted in lengthmanually in the operation of said pipe sling.

Fig. 3 is a plan viewof Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation illustrating the mannerin which the pipe sling V of my invention is employed in hoisting alength of heavy pipe.

Referring specifically to the drawings, my invention is there shown asembodied in a sling ||1 which includes a sling block II the latter beingadapted to be, suspended ona hook |2 of a hoisting cable Hi and to havestrands of cable [4 and I5 adjustably secured thereto for hoisting alength of pipe IS the cables l4 and I5 being provided with hooks I! ontheir outer ends which are hooked in opposite ends of pipe length H; asshown in Fig. 4 when the pipe sling H] is employed in lifting saidlength of pipe. I

The sling block I l includes a frame on which is mounted a double winch2|. Frame 20 comprises a pair of like triangular side plates 22 and 23which are in the form of isosceles triangles, with bases substantiallylonger than the adjacent sides, and with the apices of said trianglesjoined by a yoke member 24 which is freely rotatable in a pair ofaligned holes formed in said apices and has heads 25 formed on itsopposite ends for uniting said side plates. The plates 22 and 23 havefiat central portions 26 and converging opposite end portions 21 thetips 28 of which are bent into parallelism and provided with alignedapertures for receiving pins 29 opposite ends of which are swaged tunite said tips 28 of the plates 22 and 23. Spacing said tips and freelyrotatable on said pins are small flanged pulleys 30.

The winch 2| of the sling block includes a double drum having flanges36, 31 and 38 the latter having teeth 39 cut therein so that said flangeconstitutes a ratchet wheel. The drum 35 has trunnions 40 and 4| whichextend through and journal in suitable aligned bearing holes in theplates 22 and 23 thereby rotatably mounting the drum 35 on these plates.Fixed on the trunniondll is a collar 42 while the trunnion 4| has fixedthereon a crank 43 for manually rotating the drum 35.

Pivotally supported on the plate 23 by a bolt is a pawl 5| which is in aposition to gravitate into locking relation with one of the teeth 39 soas to prevent counterclockwise rotation of the drum 35 as shown in Fig.2.

In assembling the pipe sling ID, the free ends of the cables l4 andi5are introduced over the pulleys 30 and between the plates 22 and 23 andare secured, at approximately the points on the drum 35 at which theyare shown tangent respectively thereto in Fig. 2, to inner faces of theflanges 36 and 38.

Lengths of pipe ordinarily handled in a storage yard vary in length from10 ft. to 45 ft. and the strands of cable I4 and |5 of the pipe sling |0are long enough so that regardless of the length of the pipe lengthbeing handled the effective length of these strands may be adjusted bymanipulation of the winch 2| so that cable strands l4 and |5 alwaysincline downwardly as shown in Fig. 4 along lines lying approximately inthe same planes with the adjacent sides of the triangular side plates 22and 23 as shown in Fig. 4. As a result of this mode of operation, thereis never an excessive strain placed on the cables I 4 and I5 nor uponthe pulleys 30 or the sling block frame 20. The major portion of thestrain is thus transmitted from the cables l4 and I5 to 3 the winch 2|and from this vertically through the trunnions 40 and 4| and the plates22 and 23 to the yoke 24. Thus fairly heavy pipe lengths can be liftedby the pipe sling ID with the rather light frame 20 shown in thedrawings.

Another important advantage of the invention is the elimination of thenecessity of carrying around a number of pipe slings with cabe strandsof different lengths for handling pipes Varying in length. The pipesling 10 may be handily used by one man by lifting the pawl 5| andpulling the cables I4 and I5 outwardly to slightly over the lengthnecessary to handle a given length of pipe, manually placing the hooksI! in opposite ends of this pipe and then returning to the sling block Hand actuating the winch 2| manually to take up any slack in the cablelengths l4 and I5, whereupon the hoist is actuated to raise the hook I2thus hoisting this pipe length suspended on the pipe sling l0. Stillanother advantage of my invention is the facility with which the yardman may actuate the winch 21! to wind up the cables [4 and I5 entirelyon the winch drum 35 on opposite sides of the flange 31, it beingconvenient, in doing this, to hook the hooks IT over the pulleys 30 andlock these in place by dropping the pawl 5| behind one of the ratchetteeth 39. With the cables I l and I5 thus compactly wound into the pipesling l9, the latter may be stored or carried from place to place on theend of the hoisting cable without the cables [4 and if: or the hooks llthereon becoming entangled with equipment in the storage yard.

The claim. is:

A pipe sling comprisin a frame including spaced triangular side plates,a yoke connecting said side plates at their apices and pins connectinglower tips of said plates, the latter being bent from flat middleportions of said plates to converge into closely spaced relation at saidtips; pulleys freely rotatable on said pins; 2. winch drum disposedbetween middle portions of said plates and having trunnions whichjournal in aligned holes in said plates; a crank fixed on one of saidtrunnions for rotating said drum; a ratchet wheel formed on said drum; apawl rotatably provided on one of said plates and optionally engagingsaid ratchet Wheel; a pair of cables having corresponding ends thereofsecured to said. drum, said cables then running outwardly and downwardlyover said pulleys, the latter being located a substantial distance belowthe axis of said drum; and hooks attached to outer ends of said cablesat equal distances from said pulleys when said cables are taut.

WHETSTIN'E BUCK PRIDY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 199,955 Box Feb. 5, 1878 859,812Harness July 9, 1907 1,175,883 Feingold Mar. 14, 1916 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 70,867 Switzerland Dec. 31, 1914

